


The Blades Rest

by Ryuuzaki



Category: League of Legends
Genre: F/F, katariven
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-26
Updated: 2015-02-26
Packaged: 2018-03-15 10:09:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3443324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ryuuzaki/pseuds/Ryuuzaki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Katarina is returning from a mission when she recognizes someone very familiar....</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Blades Rest

The town was quite crowded. It was a small one, but it was around midday and all shops were busy attending traders and travelers preparing themselves, for it was the only place for rest and resupply before a very long walk until the next city. Despite its size, it was easy to lose yourself among those people from all around Valoran, most of them just staying for a day or two, until they were ready to depart. But even among all these different faces, she still managed to find her. 

Katarina was returning from a successful assassination, on her way to Noxus. The town was only one of the stops in the path and she wasn’t going to stay long, just a small pause until resuming the journey back home. That was the only time necessary for her to identify Riven among the townspeople. It was by accident, just a quick glimpse from a small distance. She was wearing a hooded duster, and carrying what it seemed a very broad sword mounted on her back, which you could see only its hilt, just like the one Riven wielded, although it seemed it was broken and far from being its original size, but the trained eye of the assassin could notice any minor detail. And it was that woman’s silver hair that appeared after a small gust of wind took the hood off slightly, that finally got her attention. 

She didn’t believe at first, the reports said that Riven was dead after a skirmish against Ionian soldiers that ended with both sides being targeted by the terrifying zaunite melters, and death by them was gruesome. She had to confirm it was really her, and putting all the experience as assassin to work, followed that woman, unnoticed, until she could have a better look. There was a small commotion over someone tripping on some merchants’ wares, which made that silver-haired woman look back, and it was all the evidence Katarina needed. 

Her suspicions confirmed, Katarina now needed to confront Riven. She survived the melters attack, so she had to return and await her orders, like any soldier. Being missing for a couple of years now, makes her a deserter, and that is a thing High Command does not take lightly. Especially someone like Riven, whose passion, strength and convictions were the embodiment of the noxian spirit and made for a quickly ascension and distinction among the ranks. She was the leader of her company and her abilities and knowledge of Noxus military could make her a very dangerous threat. The type of which Katarina is send to deal with. 

To be able to confront Riven, it was necessary to catch her off guard. She isn’t some pampered noble, who’s used to a life of luxury, or an arrogant officer who thinks their security detail is enough to make skilled assassins back away. She’s among the best of what Noxus military can offer. And right now, she is probably very alert of her surroundings knowing that if High Command finds she’s alive, she’ll be hunted until the world’s end. But Katarina is also not someone to be taken lightly either. 

Corner after corner, with the sun already setting down, Katarina follows Riven back to a two-story inn. It is quite big, with a tavern on the floor level filled with patrons already drinking and singing. Riven goes straight upstairs where the guest rooms are. Katarina is outside looking for a place to enter without being seen. She finds a window open on the second floor that leads to the corridor of the rooms. When no one is looking, she manages to jump to the window and into the hall without making a noise. Inside she sees six doors, all closed except for one at the end of the corridor. Although it is suspicious, she has no other choice but to go check it, carefully as to not alert her target. She approaches the open room and stands next to it back against the wall, as if waiting to pounce at anyone coming from there. Some seconds later, from inside she hears a voice saying “There’s no need to be shy. You can just come in if you want it”.

Closing her eyes and releasing a contained sigh, Katarina enters the room, locking the door behind her. She sees Riven looking the street below through the room’s window. Her sword is beside her but she is not holding it. Katarina notices it is broken close to its hilt something about a quarter of its original size. But that is not a reason to underestimate the warrior. 

Riven turns her body towards Katarina saying with a sad smile “I knew Command would be sending the best to finish me.” to which Katarina replies “You are still dead for them. I was returning from a mission when I saw you in town. It was hard even for me to believe it was really you.” 

“Oh?” Riven said slightly surprised. “But you should have returned” Katarina says with a serious look. “I can’t. I could not go back, not after what happened. I’m sorry.” Riven says trying to avoid Katarina’s eyes. At this moment, Katarina approaches Riven in a blink of an eye and slaps her face. She says with an angry look, “You should have told me you were still alive!”

Riven just receives the slap without flinching, and says “I’m sorry.” She was somewhat expecting it. She then slowly moves her right hand to Katarina’s cheek and starts caressing it gently moving her thumb up and down close to her left eye scar. She continues saying “I tried to find way to say to you I was still alive. Without putting you into trouble. The opportunity just… didn’t happened.” Katarina just closes her eyes and enjoys Riven’s touch, remembering the first time she did that. 

The two had met three years before Riven’s disappearance. Katarina received a dangerous intelligence-gathering mission of a Demacian operation in the Kumungu jungles. It had to be small and preferably only for one person to do it, but the threats were too high and there was need for a bodyguard, and they assigned Riven to act as such, her skills already recognized by Noxus command at this point. Neither of them wanted it. Katarina prefers being alone, others being more of a hindrance in the way she conducts her missions than help. Riven disliked this sort of operations, for her, the heat of battlefield combat was more alluring and glorious. However, orders are orders. 

They went on the mission and in the first three days in the jungle, did not share more words than the necessary to complete the assignment. On the fourth day, Katarina was on their camp when she noticed some muffled noises. Riven was not there, she was gathering some food close by, but Katarina decided not to wait and investigate on her own. She followed the noise until a clearing surrounded by large thorned vines. That already raises some suspicions, as they were not there the night before. She finds the source of the sounds, a cougar about her size strangled by the plants. 

As she is looking the creature struggling to be free from its predicament, she hears some low growling behind her. Slowly looking back, with her hands going for her blades, she sees three cougars facing her, similar to the one trapped, probably part of its pack. From the trees behind appears one more, than another and finally one more. Now there are six dangerous beasts encircling and furiously looking at her. There is just one small opening that goes deep into the jungle on her right, she quickly throws one of her knives at the one in the center. The animal dodges it, but it gives her the opportunity to run away. 

Racing through the vines without minding the cuts its thorns gives her, with her blades at hand, she tries to make to camp where Riven would probably be by now or at least some easily defendable position. She does not see the cougars but knows they are following her, having only speed as advantage for now. Knowing she is close to camp, her left leg gets trapped by the vines. With the sudden stop, she loses grip of her blades, which are thrown from her hands by a couple of meters. 

She thinks to herself that something is definitely wrong about these plants. She did not tripped, they are actually hugging her leg giving two turns around it as if they had some conscience. It is one of the problems about the Kumungu jungles, the past wars polluted this region with so much magic it makes it completely unpredictable. She quickly tries to cut the vines with one of the smaller knives with no success. She then stops after realizing the cougars find her.

Katarina holds her knife tightly waiting for one of them to pounce at her and use this opportunity to cut its neck. It is the only strategy she has right now, as she hopes they only come one at a time. All six of them are close and one of them some five meters in front is ready to attack. As it jumps towards her, she is ready to make a stabbing movement when suddenly Riven appears cutting the leaping cougar in half with one stroke. 

The front half of the dead beast goes towards Katarina as she makes a movement to the right to avoid being hit by it. Riven is positioned in a protective stance in front of her. Two of the cougars attack at the same time and she only does one quick blow to take down both. It is the first time Katarina sees Riven in action. When she first saw her, she considered it a feat that someone so small looking could be able to hold such a big sword. It was about her size and so broad, it could be used as a shield as it completely covered her body. And Riven wielded as if it weight nothing. She could jump with it with such ease it looked like she was holding a feather. Katarina was more amazed of seeing that woman fighting than relieved after just escaping what could most likely be her death. 

One of the remaining three cougars roars towards Riven to which she replies with raising her sword and a terrifying shout. The animals are shook by that and start running away from the silver-haired warrior. She then proceeds to cut the assassin free from the vines. They then proceed to make way for their camp. Katarina is limping a little from the numbness in the leg after being tied for some time. Riven seeing this is going to take too much time, puts the sword in the back, and starts carrying her in the arms. While being carried, Katarina giggles a little commenting to Riven that this scene reminds of the silly romantic novels where the knight in shining armor goes valiantly to save the princess from trouble. Riven replies that the knight could not afford in her report that the princess was killed by cats. They both laugh and it is the first non-mission related interaction they had. 

After this they start to getting into idle conversation more when at camp, and to know each other better. Riven was born poor, and when she joined the military, strived to achieve notoriety, forcing herself to master holding a sword higher than her so she could have an unparalleled efficiency in combat. Katarina was born to aristocracy, but despite having many paths to follow, preferred the brutal hardships ways of an assassin, like her father. In Noxus, strength is valued above everything else, Katarina admired someone who started from the low of society and achieved greatness, while Riven respected the woman that rejected a life of luxury in favor of hard work.

One month into the mission, there was a period of heavy rain. The women found cover in some ruins and stayed there until it was safe to go out. Katarina brought out a bottle of wine she was saving for when there was a moment of respite in the mission. She knew this was going to take long and this was one of the few luxuries she could afford bringing. They were at a safe distance from the demacians, and not even they would be putting out patrols on this treacherous terrain with so much water pouring, so there was nothing to get worried for the moment. After some glasses and deep conversations into the night, the two women got very intimate and slept together. 

When they woke up, the rain had already ceased and they were preparing to leave. After the night they had, Katarina was angry with herself, and told Riven that was just a moment of weakness influenced by too much wine, and not to mention it ever. Riven gave a slight smile but agreed on her terms. However, as the nights were getting colder, Riven would jokingly offer her embrace to warm Katarina. She angrily refused, but then, their covers were getting dirtier and more tattered the longer they were on that jungle. At first, Katarina agreed to share the warmth with the warrior’s body just because it was a matter of survival, but for her not to get any ideas. Then, as the days passed, she was liking it, although trying not showing.

The mission ended around two months after it started. The demacians wanted some old runes lost in the jungle. They managed to steal some undetected, so High Command could analyze it. As both women were returning to Noxus, they stopped in a small town and stayed at an inn for rest. It was the first real comfort they had after so long. The two stayed at the same room and shared the same bed. Katarina took the initiative and started to undress Riven. There was now no drinks, and no boring nights to put the blame on. Katarina realized she enjoyed her presence, her body, the kisses she received, the pleasure she got from her. 

They both decide to maintain a relationship of sorts. They could not be open about as High Command would view two of its top soldiers in intimacy as a distraction that would lead to weakness. They lived dangerous lives, and could die at any given time. However, they would always find a moment to be together, they would meet between missions back in Noxus to “catch up”, if an operation needed some escort, Katarina would ask specifically for Riven praising her skills shown in Kumungu. They keep doing this until the day Riven gets deployed to the Ionian invasion, the day that leads to the situation where they both find themselves now. 

Now they were in a room in some town in the middle of nowhere, one of them a deserter, a status that guarantees a kill on sight order. Instead, they are sitting beside each other in the bed. Riven explains what she witnessed back in Ionia, how what was supposed to be a glorious combat between valorous soldiers was becoming the extermination of an entire nation. That was not the noxian way she believed. And finally the day when her company was bombarded by the melters barrage. She described the look of terror in the faces of Ionians and noxians alike, as they made inhuman sounds of suffering. How she woke up the first nights after that screaming from nightmares reliving every moment. Eventually she just got used to it, but had not slept well since then. 

Riven looks to Katarina and says, “I never stopped thinking about you. The thought of seeing you one day again was what kept me going. But I can’t go back to that. I still love Noxus, but that is not the way it was supposed to be.” Katarina just nods in understanding. After a brief moment of silence, she starts kissing Riven’s neck. The warrior closes her eyes savoring the tender lips of the assassin. They were both raised in a society where showing and having strength is the norm, but each now are on the presence of the only person in the world they allow themselves to feel vulnerable.

With her kisses, Katarina makes Riven lie down in bed. She gets on top of her, taking her clothes off leaving first her upper body naked. She thinks to herself how she missed kissing and caressing those curves and muscles. For Riven it was the first moment of satisfaction in years. The two women enjoy a much craved night of pleasure as the people of the tavern below continue their loudness with all the music and drinking.

Later, the only sounds in the night are those of crickets and occasional barks from dogs, with everyone else gone for sleep. The two are lying down, Katarina resting her head in Riven’s right arm with her fingers slowly moving up and down the warrior belly. 

“You’re such a distraction, you know. I should be getting close to home by now enjoying a nice hot bath and a fine meal.” Katarina says. 

“Well, I have some dried fruits, and the water here is quite cold. So, basically the same thing, right?” Riven replies making both give a small smile. After a moment of quietness Riven says “As much as I would love to go back to you, I can’t. Something inside me changed that day in Ionia. I’ve been wandering alone all this time searching for…. I don’t even know exactly.”

“If they discover you were alive this whole time, you know they will order someone to kill you. Probably me.” Katarina says with a serious tone. Riven turns her body towards Katarina, with her left hand, fondles her cheek and with a little smile tells her “If you are the one sent to kill me, I’ll won’t mind having your face as my last sight.”

Katarina feels surprised that Riven would say such a thing. She looks so different and so broken from the proud soldier she met. In her mind she was thinking what she meant by that. If it really came up to this, would Riven even fight back? Not only that, Katarina was questioning even if herself would be able to do it. This woman, that never questioned orders, and always fulfilled missions with exemplary performance. She tries to dismiss all this as just a hypothetical scenario saying “Right now, the only thing I want to kill is this drowsiness.” They both sleep for the remainder of the night in a naked embrace.

When the sun is up, Katarina wakes and sees Riven dressed in a white shirt and underwear, watching the sky through the window. She goes to her, still nude, and gives a hug from behind, resting her head on the warrior’s back. 

“I have to go back” Katarina says, locking her arms tightly around Riven, “But I don’t want to wait another two years to be able to see you again.” 

“This was the first night the nightmares didn’t bothered me. The weights of my burdens seem to disappear when you are close.” Riven says. She turns around, puts her arms around Katarina’s neck and says “I don’t want to be alone all this time either. We may not be able to see each other like before, but there’s always some village or small town we can meet. We can find a way…” They both then share a tender kiss.

Later that day, Katarina is already at some distance from the town, in a big trade caravan going for Noxus she blended in. She gives a sad look behind remembering the moments shared, but then shrugs them off knowing she will be able to see her lover again. Riven is on the road too, on the opposite way, alone. She gives a pause and looks back the town from a nearby hill. She has a small grin on her face, though, one she did not had in a long time, with the memory of the night still fresh, thinking that her spirit may not be lost after all, realizing that the path she had taken is one not to be trailed alone.


End file.
